Hospital readmissions are expensive and negatively impact patients and hospitals. According to the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, in 2011, Medicare paid for 58% of readmissions related to the four most common health conditions, followed by private insurance (20%) and Medicaid (18%) (Fingar, K. and Washington, R. 2015. “Trends in Hospital Readmissions for Four High-Volume Conditions, 2009-2013.”). Thirty-seven percent of the total Medicare budget is spent on hospital readmissions. In 2013, there were about 500,000 readmissions totaling $7 billion in aggregate hospital costs for the following conditions: acute myocardial infarction (AMI), congestive heart failure (CHF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and pneumonia. Further, repeated hospitalizations or readmissions increase stress and complications such as hospital acquired infections.
Patient populations experiencing significant hospital readmission include the elderly population and those in lower socioeconomic groups. These and other demographics are less inclined to adopt wearable health-monitoring technologies due to several factors including: inconvenience, relevance, consistency in sensor placement, and discomfort.
Currently available systems for monitoring patient wellbeing post-hospitalization include wearable devices for monitoring respiration, heart-related parameters (e.g., heart rate), and/or patient input parameters (e.g., weight, general feeling, patient-reported symptoms, etc.). These devices are cumbersome, intrusive (e.g., in a patient's nose, around the chest, etc.), uncomfortable, difficult to position in the same location during each measurement period, and/or limited in their ability to measure a patient's wellbeing. Further, currently available systems require the user to purchase a new accessory that is compatible with the system and/or to wear an accessory comprising the system that the user does not typically wear.
In accordance with these and other deficiencies of current devices and technologies, there is a need for new and useful systems and methods for detecting and analyzing biosignals that can be readily adopted by a wide variety of demographics, including demographics less inclined to adopt biosignal sensing technology. Further, there is a need for new, useful, and inexpensive systems and methods that promote and improve general health and wellbeing to reduce healthcare costs. This disclosure provides such new and useful systems and methods for detecting and analyzing biosignals.